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Introduction 


Charles A. Wetmore's report on the Mission Indians of Southern California appears 
to be an appropriate publication for the Northridge Facsimile Series. 

This reprint is supported by the Bibliographic Society of our University as an 
historical document worthy of republication in a limited edition of 500 copies. 

It is from California State University, Northridge Libraries' Special Collections 
Department. 


Norman E. Tanis 


Report of Chas. A. Wetmore. SPECIAL U.S. COMMISSIONER 
OF MISSION INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. NORTHRIDGE 
FACSIMILE SERIES VII. Norman E. Tanis, Series Editor. Santa Susana 
Press, California State University, Northridge, 1977 


-A 



Washington, D. 0., January 9, 1875. 

Sir : I have the honor to report concerning the condition and neces¬ 
sities of the Mission Indians of Southern California, as follows: 

In accordance with instructions received, I have visited those por¬ 
tions of California in which these Indians live; have observed their 
present mode of life as compared with the past; have investigated care¬ 
fully conflicts which have arisen between them and the whites respect¬ 
ing settlements on the public lands, and on private land-grants; have 
noted the results of these conflicts, together with *the effect of white 
settlements upon their morals ; have endeavored to ascertain the causes 
of all general conflicts with the whites, and of their degrading habits; 
have consulted white citizens whose contact in life with these Indians 
renders their experience valuable in attempting t6 devise plans for the 
benefit of the Indians, as well as also of the whites, whose interests and 
home-life are affected by the preseuce and habits of the Indians; and 
have, I trust, devised some plans by which, if approved and carried 
into effect, both the Indian and the white communities will be materi¬ 
ally advanced, morally and physically, iu their several and relative con¬ 
ditions. 

To arrive at a true understanding of the character of these Indians, 
their present condition and wants, will require at least a brief review 
of their past history. This history has been to me, not only during sev¬ 
eral years of my life in Southern California, but also since I have been 
compelled, through my relations with the press, to investigate the “ In¬ 
dian question,” full of interest and instruction, with power to fascinate, 
when in romantic mood, and with food for serious thought, shedding light 
upon cloudy discussions concerning an important branch of government. 

1. The era of missionary establishments .—A little more than one hun¬ 
dred years ago the Indians of California (Alta California) were living 
in aboriginal condition. No encroachments had yet been made upon 
their rights or savage liberties. Farther south, on the peninsula of 
Lower California, (Baja California,) Jesuit missions had been established 
in a few places, but with what success we are not informed. They were 
broken up before the period of which this paragraph treats. At that 
time was the dawn of civilized life upon the present State of California, 
the beginning of its written history. 

The Jesuit missionaries having been expelled from Lower California 
by order of the King of Spain, Father Junipero Serra, of the order of 
St. Francis, from the college of San Fernando, Mexico, was placed in 
command of the brig San Antonio, and invested with full authority to 
explore the coast to the north, or what was then known as Nueve Cali¬ 
fornia, and to establish missions among the native Indian population. 
A detailed account of the explorations, thrilling adventures, patient de¬ 
votion, and successful works of the Franciscan fathers, would be full of 
interest to any person desiring to study the mode by which they obtained 



2 


control of the Indian tribes and held them with such a powerful and 
peaceful sway. Their work extended through such a long period of 
years that an opportunity is afforded, through the diaries and reports of 
the missionaries, to note the slowly, yet surely, changing condition of 
the Indians under their charge. An exhaustive review of their writings, 
■which may be found in various places and might be collated by some 
industrious writer, would reveal the secrets of their success in man¬ 
aging, civilizing, and paciflcating Indians, most of such success being due 
to the wisdom of their policy in governing them. 

On the ICth of July, 17(50, more than a century ago, the first mission 
was established in Alta California at Cosoy, as the Indians there called 
the present site of the city of San Diego. A few years later it was re¬ 
moved to a point five miles from the bay of San Diego and established 
permanently at Nipaquay, now only known as the Mission Valley. 
Twenty-one missions were established within the present limits of the 
State of California and many others further south, in Lower California. 

The following is a list of those established in Southern California, 
with dates of foundation : 

San Diego, July 16, 1769. 

San Luis Key de Fraucia, June 13, 179S. 

San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776. 

San Gabriel, September 8, 1771. 

San Fernando Key, September 8, 1797. 

San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782. 

Santa Barbara, December 4, 1782. 

Santa Ynez, September 17, 1804. 

La Purissima Concepcion, December 8, 1787. 

These names are given with reference to relative geographical position 
going north from San Diego. 2sone of the mission establishments 
were situated more than thirty miles from the Pacific coast. Most of 
them were in the principal and most fertile valleys near the ocean. The 
most northerly one was San Francisco de Solano, (now Souoma,) near 
San Francisco, to the north of the bay. 

The missionaries were performing a semi-religious, semi-political work, 
aided by the authority and power of Spain. They gradually assumed 
control of the entire coast. The Indians were, by degrees, brought 
under subjection, and gathered in towns in the vicinity of the missions, 
■where they were instructed in a rude system of agriculture, and in a few 
of the arts necessary to the lowest grades of civilized life. Vast areas 
of the most fertile and best grazing lands were informally dedicated to 
the use of the missions, and held as common property by the neophytes 
under the direction and trusteeship of the missionaries. It was the 
aim of the Spanish government to construct out of this system perma¬ 
nent churches or parishes, and ultimately to divide the common prop¬ 
erty in severalty among the neophyte Indians, as soon as sufficiently 
educated and civilized to constitute quiet and industrious self-sup¬ 
porting citizens. In this plan, and in its weakness, as subsequently 
shown, we see foreshadowed our present reservation-system. They 
had the advantage of a fixed policy on the part of the missionaries, 
and a fixed purpose, unaffected by change in office of the missionaries 
in charge; but their reservations of laud, which were the foundation 
of their prosperity and progress, were subject to change, “restora¬ 
tion to the public domain” and sale by the Government, just as Lie 
reservations of to-day in the United States are the subject of execu¬ 
tive order. It was true then, as it is undeniably now, that whenever 
a white desires to own anything, especially land, which is in possession 


3 


of an Indian, if it is within the power of Government to take away the 
possessions of the Indian and give them to the importunate white ap¬ 
plicant, some pretext will be found to excuse the wrong, which is al¬ 
most invariably perpetrated. The weakness in the system, then, was in 
the failure of the missionaries to secure vested rights for the Indians, 
who exchanged for such rights as they did receive the occupation and 
use of the whole country. Indians then, as now, received limited pos¬ 
sessions under subjection as an exchange for their wide hunting-grounds, 
with a promise of protection, instruction, and the benefits of civilization; 
but those rights were not secured to them in fee, and the result was, as 
is now too often the case, when their lands became valuable and cov¬ 
eted by whites, they were speedily made paupers and vagrants to ac¬ 
commodate the white brother, whose laws had been promised for their 
protection and improvement. The Indians have been forced by supe¬ 
rior power to trade their patrimony and their liberties for civilized bub¬ 
bles, blown by the breath of political insincerity, trading by compulsion 
from bad to worse, until they have, as the Mission Indians in California, 
simply the right to beg. They beg bread of their white neighbors on 
whose lauds they are trespassers, on the roads where they are vagrauts, 
and in the jails, which are their only asylums. They have begged in 
vain for legal rights. Their right of petition to Congress has been 
ignored. 

All this distress might have been avoided, if the Franciscan fathers 
had secured grants in fee of the mission-lands to be held as designed in 
trust for future allotment among the neophytes in civilization, and to¬ 
day there would have been flourishing villages and communities of val¬ 
uable workers where now no trace of the Indian can be found, except 
the ruins of the old missions.. Vagabondage has led to vice aud demor¬ 
alization, and these to extermination. 

The era of the Franciscan missions continued from 1769 to 1833, and was 
a period of increasing prosperity in Alta California. The Indian missions 
became the hives of industry for the Pacific coast, aud material wealth, 
as w T ell as social order, crowned the devoted labors of the self-sacrificing, 
good men, who so steadfastly and wisely governed these communities 
of their own creation. Indicative of their prosperity are the following 
facts: 

In 1826, the twenty-one missions were the homes of 24,611 neophytes, 
(now less than 5,000 of their descendants could be found.) They pos¬ 
sessed 215,000 head of neat-cattle, 135,000 sheep, 16,000 horses, aud 
harvested 75,000 bushels of grain—wheat, barley, and corn. Aud all 
this accomplished by a few wise men with a fixed policy. 

But finally came the interruption and the beginning of a new era in 
their history. White men settled in the country which they had given 
up in exchange for mission life and privileges, aud the inevitable conflict 
ensued. 

In 1822, Mexican independence was declared and the sovereignty of 
the Californias fell under Mexican sway. The Mexican Congress, ruled 
by the exigencies of the times aud the demands of politicians for money 
in the treasury, became the field for the Mexican lobby and the source 
of ill-gotten wealth for the Mexican schemers and u land-grabbers.’ 7 
Private grants were rapidly issued for all the available valleys on the 
California coast to enterprising settlers, who, like our advance guard of 
settlers, had gone out into the wilderness to u develop the country.” 
The missions were soon surrounded by chivalric Mexicans and Spanish 
andlords, and the “ cattle on a thousand hills ” told prosperity to the 
vagabond ships which wandered that way to purchase hides and tallow; 


4 


Imt the weakness in the title of the mission-properties tempted the 
“ land-grabbers‘’—history only tells the same story in other languages 
and other times—and a raid was made on the Mexican Congress. A 
bill to secularize the missions was passed and introduced for the osten¬ 
sible purpose of carrying out the original design of the missions. Pro¬ 
vision was made for the distribution of stock belonging to them, and 
for the sale of the mission-lands. The pretext, however, covered very 
thinly a scheme to rob the Indians, and succeeded through the impor¬ 
tunity of the lobby. The u law of secularization” was passed, the mis¬ 
sion-lauds were “ restored to the public domain ” and sold, not to the 
Indian, but to ranchers, and the stock, the flocks and herds—wealth for 
a principality, were “ divided up,” as was told me by one who was in 
California at that day and who remembers its wrong— divided up among 
a few influential Spanish and Mexican families , and the prosperous self- 
sustaining Indians were made vagabonds and beggars without hope by act 
of laiv. 

The whole fabric of mission-influence was laid waste, and valleys 
which had been the property and homes for thousands of Indian fam¬ 
ilies became the property of a few landlords. From that day the In¬ 
dians began to degrade. 

The era of the ranchero. —The destructioq of mission influence was 
followed by the scattering of the neophytes. These unfortunate beings, 
however, had been taught to labor in a pastoral life, and they easily fell 
into the occupations offered by the rancher os, who needed vaqueros and 
menials for their vast estates. This feudal life, into w hich the Indians 
were forced by circumstances, was less civilizing than the mission-life of 
the past. They were no longer instructed in useful arts, but were used 
and debauched at the pleasure of their masters. Still they lived in a 
comparatively happy state. The ranchos were like small realms, so large 
w r ere their areas and so separated were the valleys by mountain-chaius 
and ridges. Grants of land to single families varied generally from a 
Spanish league (4,437 acres) to eleven leagues—in a few instances even 
greater. Some of the original Indian villages were still and are to this 
day extant. 

During the days of the ranchero , only so recently passed, each Indian 
became the ow ner of one or more horses, and in many cases of small 
herds of wild cattle. In a few instances they cultivated small patches 
of land, but this w ; as rather the luxury than the necessity of their mode 
of life. 

They lived almost at their own will, wherever they chose, in scattered 
villages, in valleys which were by common consent yielded up to 
their undisturbed possession, or they gathered in small communities 
upon grants of their employers and near their ranchos. These vil¬ 
lages received the names of rancherias , and are still designated as such. 

The indiscriminate grazing of stock over a country w here fences were 
unknown gave equal opportunities to the Indians, who lived a careless, 
indolent life, only stirred into activity when they were in the saddle in 
pursuit of horses and wild cattle. 

The era of squatters and farmers. —When gold was discovered in Cal¬ 
ifornia, and the great rush of gold-seekers and traders filled the central 
portion of what is now the State of California, the flocks and herds of the 
Mexicans became the easy prey of the new-comers. The history of the 
wrongs perpetrated upon the rancheros was but a repetition of the 
wrongs suffered by the neophyte Indians, excepting that there was 
generally a weak consent on the part of the Mexicans, who were 
charmed by the vices of the Americans and lost their property in gam- 


5 


bling and profligacy. Their stock was soon stolen or traded for money 
lost in gambliug, aud soon, with few exceptions, their lands were the 
property of lawyers and money-lenders. Congress, after onr Govern¬ 
ment had agreed by treaty to protect their rights, forced them all into 
lawsuits to establish their claims, and contingent fees and contestant- 
squatters rapidly exhausted their resources. The Mission Indians 
were literally annihilated during this invasion of “Americans,” not by 
wars, but by vice and destitution. 

Southern California, however, escaped the effects of the gold-fever and 
remained in the pastoral condition until about the fall of 1867, when a 
reaction took place in public sentiment, and California was sought for 
homes. This change was followed by settlers seeking pleasant homes in 
the southern counties, the balmiest portion of the State. “ Cutting-up 
ranches” became a favorite business of the land-speculators, who pur¬ 
chased large grants aud offered them for sale in small tracts to the 
farmers who poured into the country. The determination of boundaries 
of the Spanish and Mexican grants revealed to the settlers choice tracts 
of farming-lauds, which were immediately occupied by them as squat¬ 
ters or pre-emptors on the public domain. In a short time every availa¬ 
ble piece of public land had an occupant, or claimant, and yet no pro¬ 
vision made for the Indians, who swarmed throughout the country, a 
peaceable, useful class. 

Soon came the “no-fence” laws, which provide by legislative enact¬ 
ment that stock-men must herd their stock and that farmers need not 
fence their lands to protect their crops. This soon extinguished the 
cattle interests. Sheep men with their capital, and farmers with their 
crops, covered the country, and the Indians were without legal rights to 
their homes in their own land. Several ineffectual attempts to reserve 
public lands for Indians have been made, but each time defeated through 
the opposition and protests of white settlers, who would be thereby 
dispossessed. 

The Indians have therefore lost all their traditional and customary 
rights, and are now everywhere trespassers in the land, vagrants, and 
troublesome neighbors to the whites. They still support themselves 
partially by cultivation of the soil; but they have no undisputed titles 
(except in one or two instances of special Mexican grants to Indians) 
to their homes. Generally throughout the country they gain a precari¬ 
ous living by wandering about in search of employment; they pick 
grapes, herd and wash sheep, chop wood, and do ordinary menial ser¬ 
vice. In the vicinity of towns the women give themselves up to prostitu¬ 
tion, the ill-gotten gaius of such a life supporting small villages or 
rancherias for a brief period, which is soon ended by disease and drunk¬ 
enness. 

The Mission Indians have become practically outcasts, notwithstand¬ 
ing their love for their homes and their willingness to work. Circum¬ 
stances have made them public nuisances, and serious conflicts between 
them aud the whites are constanly arising. Their condition is wretched 
in the extreme, and is each year becoming worse. Yet they are recog¬ 
nized by the people among whom they live as necessary workers in the 
field of developing the country. The fault is not with the people—the 
white settlers, who are only accepting the invitation of the laws to set¬ 
tle the country—but with the Government and Congress, which has 
failed to establish any practical mode of relief and means for the settle¬ 
ment of the Indians. 

The white people suffer as well as the Indians, and, as I have found 
by actual observation and experience, are equally to be considered, if any 


6 


plan is to be devised for the settlement of these troubles. The outcast 
Indian becomes a vicious vagrant, and when his right to his little home 
on the public lands or on the private grant is questioned he becomes 
necessarily restless and quarrelsome, and his disposition to do wrong is 
encouraged. Prostitution, robbery, drunkenness, and murder have been 
common results in the last few years, where peace reigned before. Mis¬ 
ery, disease, and death are the impending fate of these wretched creatures, 
if suffered longer to live the life of forced vagrancy. 

The larger portion of the remnants of the Mission Indians within the 
State of California are confined to the county of San Diego, where they 
number about twenty five hundred, besides nearly as many more who 
speak the Spanish language and are claimed as Roman Catholics. 
The numbers in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties are much 
less, and the farther north we go, we find that civilization for the 
whites has been an exterminating process to them. Farther ea^t, in 
San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, there are other Indians, com¬ 
monly known as Desert Indians, though of various tribes; but these 
did not come within my mission, they being wholly uncivilized and 
never under the complete control of the missions, though they are in¬ 
cluded within the pastoral duties of tfte priests of the Roman Catholic 
Church; to Father Ubach, of San Diego, and Father Verdaguer, of Sail 
Bernardino, being assigned these objects of missionary-work in San 
Diego and San Bernardino Counties, respectively. Accompanying this 
report, I have the honor to submit, for the information of the Depart¬ 
ment, a translation of a letter of Father Verdaguer to Bishop A mat, con¬ 
taining a report concerning the Desert Indiams under his charge. Con¬ 
cerning these Desert Indians, Father Verdaguer writes, under date of 
August 25, 1873, in a manner that would be equally applicable to the 
Mission Indians. He says: 

Yes, my lordship, it is sad to see how many of them make their living. Many of the 
men, as they have nothing to support themselves with, steal from the whites, and the 
women give themselves up to a life of prostitution, thus causing the demoralization and 
ruin of many whites, particularly of the young. What I say is a fact in all cases where 
the Indians are residing near the whites; a fact known and lamented by all good and 
honest people. The Government knows nothing of this, or it would use all possible 
means to prevent it. Let, then, all this be explained, and I am certain that the Govern¬ 
ment will listen to your lordship, will give to the Indians laud enough to support them¬ 
selves, and I will help your lordship establish schools for them. You will then be able 
to put a priest there who can easily mauage and control them. I say I am certain of 
this, because by this plan the Government will not be compelled to expend one-half of 
what it now costs to keep up agencies and reservations. I was talking some time ago 
with one of the chiefs, and he said—“the whites complain to me that my men steal and 
do many other bad things. Well, I suppose they do ; but who is more to blame than 
the whites themselves ? They have stolen all our land from us, and we have nothing 
to support ourselves with. Let the Government secure to us the lands we now have, 
give some to those who have none ; then my Indians will not steal; then I will be re¬ 
sponsible for their acts, and I know the whites will have nothing to complain of.” 

They had no agent for several years, and they do not care mud) hout it. The only men 
they have confidence in and desire to have with the i i . one ?:t —a Cat-' . • priest. 

Would to God the Government would understand them, and put the Indians under our 
control. In a few years they would bean entirely different people ; they would be able 
to support themselves; they would be good Christians, and even they could be made 
good citizens, and an honor to the Government. 

It is useless for me in this report to give in detail tbe events of my 
tour among these Mission Indians, excepting so far as practical results 
of investigation are concerned. The Department is well informed, 
through the able report of Rev. John G. Ames, who visited Southern 
California as special commissioner last year, respecting the various dis¬ 
tribution of the Indians throughout the country. 

To illustrate some of the features of the present Mission Indian life, 


I will quote a few passages from Charles NordhofTs work on California, 
which fairly pictures some of the scenes which are common in Southern 
California. Mr. Nordhoff says : 

About San Bernandino the farm-laborers are chiefly Indians. These people, of whom 
California has still several thousand, are a very useful class. They trim the vines, 
they plow, they do the household chores, they are shepherds—and trusty ones, too; 
vacqueros, and helpers generally. Mostly they live amou^the whites, and are thus hum¬ 
ble, and, I judge, tolerably efficient ministers. Near San Bernardino, at any rate, I 
found that it was thought a great advantage for a man to “ hare Indians.” At Teme¬ 
cula, twelve miles from the Laguna, we came upon an Indian settlement. You kuow 
already that these California Indians were, in the old times, gathered by pious priests 
into missions, where they were taught various useful industries, and the habit of la¬ 
bor. The old missions of California, now mere shells and ruins, show yet abundant 
evidence, in aqueducts, buildings, mills, reservoirs, and orange and olive orchards, of 
the skill and perseverance which the Franciscan friars brought to their task of civiliz¬ 
ing the savages. “ Those old fellows knew better how to manage the Indians than we 
do,” said a rough old man who had walked with me through one of the old missions. 
They did a good work, for they found the Indians savages, and left them at least thor¬ 
oughly tamed. The Indian of these southern counties is not a very respectable being, 
but he is of some use in the world ; he works. It is true that he loves strong grape 
brandy; that he gets drunk ; that he lives poorly; that he does not acquire money; 
and has even fewer notions of what we call comfort than his Spanish, half Spanish, 
Pike, and American neighbors. But he does not assassinate like the brutal Apache, 
and he has wants enough to make him labor for money. “ I do not think my Iudiaus 
would stav with me if they could not get drunk every Saturday night,” said one who 
had just praised them as tolerably steady, and very useful and indispensable laborers. 

* # * * # * n 

The houses in which they live are mostty constructed of reeds and barley-straw, 
laced with long poles. You will see, if you enter, a single dark room, without windows 
or chimney; the fire planted at one end, and smoke escaping by the door; the stone 
on which grain is ground for tortillas near the door; the beds on the floor occupying 
half the space within ; the women and children, and on Sunday the men, sitting around 
the fire waiting for the mess which is boiling in the pot, and which seemed to me to be 
generally mush, with no trace of meat; and without the door a few pots, pans, chick¬ 
ens, ducks, and dogs. 

This house is planted, seerhingly by chance, anywhere, without relation to anything 
except usually another house just like it. It has a flap-door made of an old apron 
or dress ; but under the same roof you will generally find another room with a door, 
which is fastened. At first I thought this an apartment to let, but it is a store-house, 
and seems to be a sort of genteel sham, for every one into which I got a peep was 
empty or very nearly so. It had probably the same relation to the dignity and 
good standing of a family that a hermetically-sealed parlor has to a respectable coun¬ 
tryman’s house iu New England. 

If you can tell the difference between mere squalor and filth, you would see that 
these Indian houses and their inhabitants are not dirty. I think it likely that they 
learned cleanliness from the old Spanish Californians, who, it should be known, are an 
eminently cleanly people. At one of these houses, at a little distance from Temecula, I 
begged some hot water to prepare myself a little luuch, and while this was getting 
ready, took an inventory of the interior. It contained three children, a very old blind 
man, who bent over the fire aud muttered to himself; three women, a girl, who was rub¬ 
bing wheat on the tortilla-stone; a man sleeping on the bed, with his head covered 
aud his feet sticking out near the fire ; a baby tied into a wooden frame, in which the 
little ones are held, carried, and rocked; a fire ; a few baskets, which are beautifully 
made by these people, and are water-tight; two saddles, an ox-yoke, a table, a sieve, 
two earthen oyas, in which water is kept cool in this country : a stone mortar i.od • as- 
tlo, a gridiron, a coffee-pot, an ax, a sun-bonnet, a pair of laced shoes, carefully hung¬ 
up, aud evidently not often used, aud a small picture of some saint. Outside stood 
two very respectable-looking wash-tubs, several pots, and for the rest, dogs. 

Now here was an outfit, in fact, superior to that which I noted in several Pike shan¬ 
ties on the way. Here were preparations for living simply, but, after all, not uncleanly. 
Beyond this the Indian does not get. As you ride through the country you can tell at 
a distance the character of the inhabitants of a house you are approaching. If the 
house is of reeds and straw, the owner is an Indian ; if it is of adobe, it is a Spaniard 
who lives there; if it is of frame, be sure it is an “American,” as we of the old States 
proudly call ourselves. Often the wooden house is a mere box, smaller and less com¬ 
fortable than the Indian’s straw hut, but it is of wood. 

The Indians in this part of the State are harmless. Being white and of the superior 
race, therefore, you have the privilege of entering any Iudian’s house, and you will be 


8 


kindly received, and if you want water out of bis oya, or wish to cook your own dinner 
at bis fire, you are welcome. You will prefer to camp out beside your own fire, in the 
opeu air, rather than take lodgings in bis bouse. 

ft ^ if if ^ 

These Temecula Indians are, I am told, descendants of those who formerly lived 
around the missions of San Louis Rey and San Diego. A thoughtful man cannot visit 
these and other old missions in this part of the State without feeling a deep respect 
for the good men who erected these now ruined churches ; gathered around them com¬ 
munities of savages, and patiently taught them not only to worship in a Christian 
church, but also the habit of labor, the arts of agriculture, and some useful trades. 
They used the labor of the Indians to bring water in solidly-built aqueducts, often for 
a distance of miles, and to store it in tanks built of stone and cement, which still stand 
empty, and some with trees growing out of their depths. They introduced in this 
State the olive, the orange, the date-palm, the almond, as "well as the cereals ; and the 
olive-orchards at the San Diego mission, the earliest planted in the State, still bear 
heavy crops, and are a source of profit. 

Moreover, when you have seen two or three of these old missions, it will dawn upon 
you that the good old padres had an excellent eye for country. What they sought, 
apparently, was a fine view, shelter from rude winds, good soil, and the vicinity of 
water: and so well did they secure their objects, that a mission-site is without excep¬ 
tion, so far as I know, the very best spot for residence and agriculture in its district. 
At Santa Barbara, for instance, the white mission-buildings can be seen for a dozen 
miles in almost every direction; they are completely sheltered from rough winds, and 
the adjoining mission-lands are notoriously among the most fertile in the region. 
About San Diego, the country, which gets but little rain, has an arid look, until you 
drive into the Mission Valley; but even in this dry year, the view from the old mission 
church, now a sad ruin, is lovely. You have a broad expanse of green before you, with 
the beautiful grayish-green of the old olive-orchard for a foreground, and stately palms 
rearing their heads above the olive-trees. 

The history of the missions of California has been compiled by a well-known Roman 
Catholic writer; but his work gives too little information concerning the character 
and objects of the old Dominican friars, to whose patience and perseverance in a noble 
work Southern California is to-day indebted for a valuable laboring force. 

# * n # # 

Perhaps they discussed for many, many weary hours their work, their aims, and their 
objects in those pleasaut shady walks, bounded by olive-trees on one side and pome¬ 
granates on the other, traces of which you may still discover in some of the old mis¬ 
sion-grounds. What a pleasant sunny nook of the world they occupied. 

Investigation has shown to me that there are three classes of diffi¬ 
culties that must be provided against by judicious laws, if it is the in¬ 
tention of the Government and Congress to deal justly with the Indians 
and to protect American citizens from the evils which now surround 
them, which are the effects of contact with a vagabond class, whose 
vagabondage may be laid at the door of the Government. 

In order to make these Indians occupy positions of usefulness in a 
white community without conflict of rights and to divest them of the 
character of public nuisances, it will be necessary— 

First. To adjust and determine the rights of Indians on public lands, 
with due regard to the claims of white settlers, who have been invited 
by law 7 to seek homes in the same localities. 

Second. To settle the conflict between owners of private land-claims 
and Indians occupying the same. 

Third. To prevent, as far as possible, vagrancy, with its attendant 
evils, prostitution, drunkenness, &c. 

In attempting to report fairly concerning these evils, and to suggest 
proper methods for overcoming them, I have kept foremost in my mind 
several fixed ideas: 

First. That intercourse on equal terms between whites and Indians 
invariably results in the degradation of the latter. 

Second. That Indians in their present savage or semi-civilized condi¬ 
tion are not competent to compete with the superior intelligence and 
force of the w hites. In all cases where they attempt to do so, on equal 


9 


terms, the Indians become the victims of the vices of the whites and the 
easy prey of the unscrupulous trader and speculator. 

Third. That, even if it be true that civilization will ultimately ex¬ 
terminate the Indian race when it comes in contact with the Anglo- 
Saxon merciless rule of progress and life, “root, hog, or die,” yet it is 
the duty of the Government to protect all human beings within its 
power in their rights, and to determine those rights ; and if any class of 
those beings are shown by nature to be incompetent to live under the high- 
pressure laws of advanced civilization, it is the duty of the Government to 
pass special laws under the operation of which an opportunity to grow into 
civilized life may be given them, at least to protect them humanely from 
the consequence of their own weakness. 

Fourth. That it is peculiarly the duty of our Government to pass 
special laws for the protection of Indians, who are forced to receive civil¬ 
ization among them, even though special laws for other classes be ob¬ 
jected to. 

Fifth. That any attempt at the present time, except in special instances, 
to extend, unqualifiedly, rights or even privileges of citizenship to 
Indians, will necessarily result in evil to them, through the competition 
of forces for which they are not prepared. 

Sixth. That Indians must be treated as wards of the Government, and 
in consequence thereof the Government must be the guardian or trustee 
of all their rights, or establish such trusteeship for them. 

Seventh. That their rights as wards must be determined and vested 
in their trustee, beyond the reach of political control and the effects of 
political changes. 

Eighth. That until it be shown that Indians are increasing in num¬ 
bers, it is unnecessary to reserve or establish rights for their use in ex¬ 
cess of the demands of their present numbers. Eeservations of land, 
sufficient to provide for their actual occupation, will answer all politic 
purposes. Experience shows that larger reservations always invite 
encroachments with impunity by the whites. 

Ninth. That the ordinary punishments for Indian misdemeanors and 
crimes, as applied under general laws now in force, are not effectual 
against their commission or repetition. Except within the limited oper¬ 
ation of their own laws and customs, Indians only exceptionally appear 
to have any shame or regard for reputation, the two great conservators 
of good morals and public peace. Indians need a more rigid and effect¬ 
ive system to compel or induce obedience to law. 

Tenth. That when Indians and whites mingle in their occupations and 
life, the interests of the whites are equally involved with those of the 
Indians in any plan for the assistance or government of the former, and 
the interests of both should be considered together. 

Eleventh. That prostitution of Indian women is the invariable result 
of unrestricted intercourse between Indians and whites, and the sole 
great cause of the extermination of Indian tribes by the advance of 
civilization, ardent spirits sometimes being the means to such debauch¬ 
ery used by whites, and generally being the object coveted, for which the 
women prostitute themselves, and are suffered to do so by the Indian 
men, who covet a share of the ill-gotten poisons. 

Twelfth. That the sale of ardent spirits to Indians cannot practically 
and effectively be prevented by laws forbidding or punishing the sale 
thereof. In the streets of San Diego and other towns I have visited, it 
is common to see Indians coming and going with bottles of whisky, and 
yet no white jury will convict a white trader. Even if the sale could be 
stopped at the stores, there are a thousand ways to smuggle the contra- 


10 


band article among the Indians. The only remedy is to punish the In¬ 
dian for drunkenness, not by confinement in jail, but by compulsory 
work. 

Having entertained these fixed ideas on the subject of Indian charac¬ 
ter and management, after making a thorough investigation of the con¬ 
dition of the Mission Indians by a tour of observation throughout 
Southern California, I requested the city, county, State and Federal 
officers to meet me in the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles for con¬ 
sultation. These officers, or many of them, have had, for many years, 
constant necessity to study this Indian question in a practical way, and 
their large experience I found to be valuable to me. Especially impor¬ 
tant was it for me to present my views to the register and receiver of 
the land-office of that district, because these officers are constantly 
troubled with contests between white settlers and Indians, and the re¬ 
sults of their observation I found to be of value. 

In San Diego a meeting was called informally at the county court¬ 
room on the 20th of October last. The San Diego Union of the next 
day published a lengthy report of the proceedings, giving much of the 
substance of that which is stated in the first part of this report, besides 
the following, which I will quote in order to show what the feeling of 
the community there is, as based on that publication. The Union says: 

Yesterday afternoon, by invitation of Special United States Commissioner Charles 
A. Wetmore, the county officers aud citizens of San Diego met in the county court¬ 
room to hear his suggestions regarding the rights, duties, and obligations of the Mis¬ 
sion Indians of this county, and the proposed plan for the improvement of their condi¬ 
tion. Before making a report upon a matter of mutual interest to the Government 
and to the citizens of Southern California, it was deemed desirable to obtain the views 
of those familiar with the subject in its local bearings. It was gratifying to observe 
that not only were all the officers of the county present, but many, of our most thought¬ 
ful and best citizens. 

# * # * * * # 

Mr. Wetmore’s idea is to reproduce, as far as present circumstances will permit, the 
old mission system, and to revive the slumbering influences which once controlled these 
christianized Indians. He has outlined his plau as follows : 

First. To adjust and determine the rights of the Indians on public lauds. The 
Indians, in many places, are living in valleys on the public lands. There are no res¬ 
ervations for them; they have not been recognized as citizens with privileges to pre¬ 
empt lauds, nor should such privileges be granted them. The era of in liscriminate 
grazing is gone, and the Indians in most places simply require a small patch of ground 
for a home. Indians here seldom cultivate more thau a small garden, and generally 
the most that they require to occupy would be five acres. In a few cases larger pos¬ 
sessions are cultivated, but then it will almost always be found that several families 
are cultivating the field in common. The majority of the Indians depend for support 
upon their labor as laborers in the country, aud to obtain employment they periodi¬ 
cally leave their villages, only to return to them again. Their love for their little 
homes is, however, very great, and they can only be induced to abandon them by force, 
long-continued persecution, or the demoralizing influence of whisky, for which many 
of them will sell anything that they possess, eveu the virtue of their families. 

In nearly all the valleys containing Iudian settlements, white settlers have estab¬ 
lished homes. The conflict's inevitable. There is no authority by which the. Land • 
Office can reco:;:n o* and cv?.’ do from pre-empt ion the Indian occupations; the . lo; 
whose claim of one hundred and sixty acres or less includes necessarily an Indian hab¬ 
itation, cannot obtain his title without claiming the Indian occupation also. There 
is, therefore, a strong temptation to cut the gordian knot of difficulties by intimidating 
the Indian to leave, or purchasing his right for a bottle of whisky. In the one case 
the Indian becomes belligerent, and is disposed to defend his own claim in his owu 
way ; aud, in the other case, he becomes a vagrant or a trespasser. Mr. Wetmore says 
that he linds very little disposition on the part of the settlers to treat the Indians badly ; 
the troubles arise from the want of laws by which the Indian settlements and claims 
can be determined and set apart. In a few cases patents have issued to settlers for 
lands on which there are Indian homes; but generally the slow progress of public 
surveys has rendered it impossible for the settlers to prove up their claims. 

Before the difficulties become greater, Mr. Wetmore thinks that a survey should 
be made of all the Indian villages aud homes on the public lauds, so as to determine 


11 


the exact location and extent of their actual occupancy. Then an order should 
he made by the Government reserving from pre-emptiou ail such tracts, the extent to 
be determined, when there is a conflict with white settlers, by actual cultivation or 
continued inclosure in the past; or in case where there is an Indian house without 
cultivated lauds or inclosures, the reservation of a square lot not to exceed five acres. 
When there is no conflict with white settlers, more liberal reservations might be made. 
Then the settlers might proceed with their pre-emption without disturbing the Indians. 
Legislation should be had to authorize the issuance of a patent for the lands of the 
Indians to some party—say the Secretary of the Interior—to be held in trust for the 
Indians. Certificates of right of possession should then be issued by the trustee to 
the Indians, the condition in all cases to be that any sale, lease, or transfer of the title, 
or occupancy by the Indians except by special permission of the trustee, be declared 
void. All inducement to corrupt the Indian for the sake of acquiring his title to land 
would then cease. The Indian would be satisfied and secure in his home, and could be 
compelled to improve it by making substantial inclosures, &c. 

Mr. Wetmore also suggests that a law be passed authorizing Indians to contract for 
the purchase of lands, or receive gifts of the same on private ranches or farms, provid¬ 
ing that the title be vested, as in the other case, in the hands of a trustee, with simi¬ 
lar restrictions as to its transfer or sale. This would enable ranchmen to settle about 
them the Indians whom they employ. This idea has been suggested to a number of 
land-holders iu this county, especially those engaged in raisiug stock, and in nearly 
every case Mr. Wetmore says that they express a desire to adopt it at once and will be 
glad to give Indians homes to secure their services. 

Second. To settle the conflict between Indians on ranches and the ranch-holders. 
This may be done iu some cases by the purchase of the lauds actually occupied by the 
Indians, the title and allotments to be similarly arranged as in the case of the public 
lands, and for the rest by the purchase of some suitably-situated and selected tract on 
which can be organized a central and principal town and rendezvous for the tribe. If 
this should be doue Mr. Wetmore thinks that a lot of ground should be set apart for 
a church; and inasmuch as these Indians are all Roman Catholics, the Roman Catholic 
church should be invited to establish there a mission, and be secured in a permanent 
occupation of the same. The influence of such an institution might in a great measure 
restore the former prosperity of Indians. 

No compulsion should be used to compel the Indians to accept any particular abode, 
except in case of habitual vagrancy; but the plan should be to encourage the devel¬ 
opment of the Indian town and mission. The Government might well afford to edu¬ 
cate, in Santa Clara College or elsewhere, a small class of young Indians, whose 
work might hereafter be used to advantage iu the tribe. 

Third. Vagrancy, &c. A resident agent should be appointed, at least in the begin¬ 
ning, to carry this {dan into effect. He should have power to seize any Indian who is 
a vagrant, habitual drunkard, or prostitute, and hire out his or her services to labor, 
the proceeds at the end of a given term of such servitude to be expended upou the 
home of the Indiau, or, as punishment for vagrancy, the Indian might be compelled to 
work a specified time in improving the lands of the Indian town. Indians should be 
treated as vagrants who remain longer than twenty-four hours within the limits of the 
city of San Diego or other town of any considerable size, unless they have employ¬ 
ment. 

At some future time the homes of the Indians might be given in fee to them. They 
would then be qualified for citizenship and the old mission idea would be fulfilled. 
This plan, at least, would secure the Indians permanent homes aud put a stop to their 
fear of losiug what they possess. It would be both politic and humane. 

During Mr. Wetmore’s remarks, questions were asked aud suggestions offered by 
several of the gentlemen present; and, at the conclusion, there were expressions of 
hearty approval from County Judge Bush, C. P. Taggart, esq., Assemblyman Bowers, 
Maj. D. Chase, District Attorney Hotchkiss, Judge Tyson, County Clerk Grant, Sheriff 
Hunsaker, A. E. Horton, and others. Mr. B nvers commended the proposition to secure 
the inllu 'ice of tin* Catholic Church, wliicli had attained a success in its <!:• flings with 
these Indians which remained as an example for the treatment of the present problem ; 
avc could hardly hope to succeed better than the early mission fathers did. Mr. Tag¬ 
gart said that Mr. Wetmore had really thought out a practical application of the 
ancient mission system to the Avants of the present day ; he had proposed a plan which 
comprehended the best features of that old system aud Avas adapted to existing neces¬ 
sities. 

There was, indeed, a unanimous indorsement of the general plan outlined by the 
commissioner, and a willingness was expressed to urge its adoption upou the Govern¬ 
ment by' the people of this county. 

The foregoing extracts contain a very good report of the remedies that 
I suggested for the correction of evils now existing, and also a fair state¬ 
ment of the action of the meeting, as will be shown by the copies of 


12 

official letters received by me from officers who are of both political par¬ 
ties, and mostly democrats, which copies I include iu this report. 

I am still of the opinion that the suggestions there made by me were 
those that should be made, and I now offer them to the Government, 
hoping that the attention of Congress will be called to them. 

I feel only in doubt as to the practicability of carrying out the sug¬ 
gestions in reference to remedies for vagrancy. The question of citizen¬ 
ship of Indians and a conflict of laws, Federal and State, might hereafter 
modify these proposed remedies. 

In several instances, Indians in Los Angeles County have been in¬ 
duced to make application, as citizens, to have their names, as voters, 
registered, which has been done for them ; but I know that these Mis¬ 
sion Indians, excepting a few who are balf-breeds, are totally unfit to 
exercise the rights of citizenship. If, during any political excitement, 
any person (and there are those who could and might do it) should cause 
the names of a large number to be registered, and then control their 
votes, a great wrong might be perpetrated. It is my opinion that only 
by special commission should Indians be recognized as citizens, if at 
ail, and some action should be taken to prevent a continuance of 
the present recognitions, and I believe that this would be mercy aud 
true policy for the Indians. Even to acquire title to. Government 
land, I do not think it would be necessary, so far as my observation 
has gone, to grant rights of citizenship. If Congress will pass a law 
to authorize such a relation of trusteeship as I have recommended, the 
Indians may acquire safely what lands they actually require; but the 
rights of citizenship might make them the easy tools of land speculators, 
many of whom have been known to this Department to acquire titles 
to public lands by using white men to enter lands fraudulently for them; 
and if this use can be made of white men, where would be the safety 
for Indians % It is also true that, except in rare cases, Indians do not 
require for actual use more than a small tract of laud. When they are 
in unsettled districts they hunt, fish, and roam about, and will not set¬ 
tle in fixed habitations or ask for fixed areas of land for individual use 
until white settlements have crowded them to the wall. Then it is too 
late for them to pre-empt land ; or, if not, they require only small home¬ 
steads, because their chief support is in working for the whites, not in 
managing their own estates. Fixed habitations, however, are necessary 
to them, but the title should be vested iu a trustee until they become 
advanced iu civilization. I will suggest some of the advantages which, it 
occurs to me, would be in favor of the trustee system. 

First. It would not be within the power of unfriendly local State and 
county officers to tax the Indians out of their homes, which might be 
done. 

It requires legal advice to preserve titles to lands, and the Indian 
would be at a disadvantage before his sharper brothers. Under the 
trustee system lauds would be assessed, if assessed at all, to the trustee, 
who, through his agents, would collect, if required, a just and equitable 
tax from the Indians, without confusing them by a multiplicity of laws. 

Second. It seems to be the rule that Indians die often without 
issue. The trusteeship could be so arranged as to keep their estates 
out of probate court, which would under any other plan cause much 
difficulty. 

Third. If a tribe should die out, the lands granted them would be 
retained by the trustee, and could be sold so as to return to the Govern¬ 
ment some of, if not all, or more than the cost of settling the Indians. 


13 


Fourth. The condition of accepting and enjoying the benefits of the 
trusteeship might be made so as to prevent incompetent Indians from 
applying for rights as American citizens, and keep them under control 
without conflict between the agents of tlie trustee and State authority. 

Perfect control and simplicity of government will be indispensable in 
making civilized beings out of Indian tribes. 

I will also suggest here a few ideas in addition to the report extracted 
above concerning religious influence with the Indians. 

It is an undeuiable fact that to this day the Boman Catholic priests 
have a strong influence over the Mission Indians, which influence might 
be exerted for their benefit if the Government would do its duty by the 
Indians. In examining this branch of the subject, I found three impor¬ 
tant things to consider. 

First. It is claimed by some that there is no longer in the Boman 
Catholic, or any other church, that energetic spirit of missionary work, 
that desire to make proselytes, that once was the foundation of mission¬ 
ary successes. 

Second. That the Boman Catholic Church would not, “unless there 
were money in it,’ 7 again assume charge of the Indian neophytes. 

Third. The fact that the church is not now doing in that section any 
practical missionary-work, excepting occasional parochial visits of the 
resident priests,and an occasional attempt to gather the Indians at a 
least, in order to keep alive respect, or rather fondness, for the church. 

I visited Archbishop Alemany at San Francisco, and consulted with 
him on the subject. He came to conclusions with the rapidity of one 
who has studied the matter, and had experience in it. He said : 

The church cannot do anything for the Indians while they are subject to changes 
of political policy. To-day they are roaming about; to-morrow they may be placed 
on a reservation and put iu charge of a Methodist; next day the reservation is restored 
to the public domain, and the Indians are scattered; again they are placed under 
special agency of an Israelite, and then we may be asked to aid the poor Indians. 
"YVe can do nothing with them unless we have a permanent control, and the Indians 
should have permanent homes, so that our work among them may not be lost. Let 
the Government buy a tract of land suitable for them, at least for those who have no 
homes. 

And this is the whole story as far as it goes. In conversation with 
Father Ubach, at San Diego, and Father Verdaguer, at Los Angeles, 
both of whom are engaged partly iu parochial work among the In¬ 
dians, but without power to influence them greatly, it was said to me, 
after my suggestions had been published, that if the Government would 
adopt out this proposed policy, it would not be long before the Boman 
Catholic Church would have schools and colleges for the Indians, and 
would have Sisters of Charity among them. The men would be encour¬ 
aged to work and the women to be virtuous. With such a policy they 
said they would undertake to subdue even the Apaches, and the mili¬ 
tary might be dispensed with. 

I suggested to them that I should not recommend that the control of 
any given number of Indians, or the exclusive religious training, be 
given to any particular denomination of religious people; but that, hav¬ 
ing fixed the Indians in homes, with fixed rights, an equal opportunity 
be offered to all denominations to enter upon the missionary work where 
their own establishments and their work might become as permanent 
as they are now among any class of their peculiar co-worshipers. It 
would happen, of course, that the work in any particular locality would 
principally fall under the control of some one denomination, and in the 
case of the Mission Indians special invitations should be given to the 


14 


Roman Catholics to benefit the Indians who have already been taught 
religious habits by them. Perhaps also a school-fund for these people 
might well be intrusted to a Roman Catholic missionary, who might 
assume the office of teacher, and thus aid might be extended to the 
mission. 

I was told that this plan would be acceptable, and that much good 
might be done if it were adopted. 

In lookiug at this subject, I am led to the church-influence, not in a 
religious sense but with a regard for public policy, as the strongest 
and best that can be made available for the benefit of the Indians. I 
think that perhaps the church might do much to prevent the evils of 
prostitution. Yet I would limit my recommendation, as I have just said. 

Bishop Amat, of the diocese in which Southern California is situated, 
was absent in Spain when I was at Los Angeles, and the acting bishop 
was absent in San Francisco, so that I failed to meet either of these per¬ 
sons. I was told by a priest in Los Angeles that Bishop Amat has 
given much time and thought to this Indian question, and has deter¬ 
mined at some future time to inaugurate a mission system. He is truly 
devoted to the obligations of his office, and has the cause of the Mission 
Indians at his heart. 

The views expressed by me at San Diego and Los Angeles were given 
freely to the public for criticism, in order that I might profit by any 
suggestion offered by the people living there, before making final report 
to the Department. 

Those views, candidly expressed, have been received with unusual and 
unexpectedly great approbation, and in no single case have I seen an 
adverse criticism. 

The San Diego Union of October 25, says: 

The plan proposed by Mr. Wetmore for the management of these Indians, as out¬ 
lined in our report of his conference with the couuty officers last week, is very warmly 
indorsed by all of our citizens, and its adoption is earnestly hoped for. It is believed 
to be the first practical scheme for the improvement of the condition of these Indians 
that has been presented, and no doubt is entertained of its success if put into opera¬ 
tion. 

After meeting the officials residing at Los Angeles, in the United 
States land-office, October 28, similar encouraging notices were pub¬ 
lished. I extract the following editorial from the Los Angeles Herald of 
October 29: 

The views advanced by Mr. Wetmore, United States special commissioner to the 
Mission Indians, at a meeting of officials and other citizens, held yesterday at the 
United States land-office, are decidedly sound and practical, and his plan of action for 
the protection and advancement of these “ wards of the nation,” if approved at Wash¬ 
ington and carried into effect, will prove of service both to Caucasian and to red men. 

He very rightly opposes the doctrine advanced by some, that these Indians should be 
granted the nill privilege of citizenship, maintaining that they must still be treated 
as wards, although they are now semi-civilized, as citizenship would only result in the 
debasement and final extermination of these poor fellows. 

He is exactly right when he says that the red man would be wiped out if placed on 
equal footing with his intelligent and refined white brother. The granting of citizen- 
si.ip to the Indian would soon put an end to the vexatious question, for the result 
would be that in a very short time all these “ wards” would be translated to the happy 
hunting ground. This would be a very easy and not a costly solution of the difficulty, 
and in exact harmony with the bearing of Christians toward the American aborigines 
since the day when Columbus first trod our virgin soil. 

As the Indians are still with us and evincebut little inclination to retire from our genial 
fields, the only policy is to make them industrious, sober, and profitable to the commu¬ 
nity, and this can only be accomplished by treating them as humaus, giving them homes 
and protecting those homes trom the inordinate rapacity of unscrupulous whites. 

Mr. Wetmore very practically suggests that small homes be given to the Indians and 


15 


held in trust for them by some responsible party; and also that a general Indian ren¬ 
dezvous be established, and the Catholics be invited to establish a mission thereon. 
Even the most enthusiastic Protestant will admit that the Roman Catholic Church 
has dealt most generously with the red men and accomplished much good for them, 
and it is reasonable to expect that just as much good can be accomplished by them at 
this latter day. 

Let there be a new deal, and\ye confidently predict that the Indian vagabondage 
which has proved such a shame and a curse will soon cease. 

The eutire report, printed in the San Diego Union, was translated and 
published with favorable notices in La Cronica, a newspaper printed in 
the Spanish language at Los Angeles, a journal representing the inter¬ 
ests of our Spanish-American citizens. 

Col. B. S. Peel, writing from Los Angeles to the Alta California on 
this subject, says: 

This lovely country w r as once owned entirely by the ancestors of the Mission Indi¬ 
ans. It*supplied all their wants, and they lived in peace and happiness; and without 
an act or fault of their own, all that they possessed on earth has been filched from 
them, and they are now perishing on their own land in the midst of strangers. If we 
had conquered these poor creatures in a bloody conflict, in a war instigated by some 
act of cruelty on their part, there would be some extenuation for our conduct, but we 
have no such excuse. They have ever been peaceful, kind, and even submissive. 
Even now, while they are being kicked from door to door by the white man, they are 
entirely submissive, with the picture of humility and despair in every feature. They 
are all broken up, and wander around in perfect helplessness. They have the sympa¬ 
thy of a great majority of the people, but individuals can do nothing toward settling 
them down in permanent, quiet homes, where they can be protected and educated. 
The Government alone can and must protect them ; and should it fail to do it there 
must come a time when the judgment of Heaven will avenge their wrongs. 

We have examined Mr. We tin ore’s plan proposed to be acted on by the Government; 
we have given it a great deal of thought, and at present we have no amendments to 
offer. It is the best we have seen. 

The National Republican, in commenting on this subject, says: 

The suggestions made to the county officers and citizens of San Diego have a more 
than local interest and significance. They apply almost equally to the treatment of 
the Indians of other sections, and outline a policy marked by sound judgment and 
practical reasoning. 

I quote these extracts with a view to inform the Department of the 
general public sentiment on the subject, and, in case this report should 
be referred to Congress, for the purpose of satisfying members that not 
only is the cause of humanity involved in this question, but also the 
interests of the Government and the general public. 

For this same reason I will submit copies of official letters, which 
have been sent to me, as follows: 


District Attorney’s Office, 

San Diego , Cal., November 23, 1874. 

Dear Sir : Inclosed please find indorsements of your Indian scheme by county offi¬ 
cials. I think it highly important, both for the Indian and the white race, that some 
action be taken to regulate these people and settle their rights. Police them and make 
an earnest effort to have them self-sustaining. I have just convicted the Indian, Jesus 
Sordo, of murder in the first decree for killing Johnson at Bowlder Creek, near Julian, 
in 1870. He will be hung soon. I am now prosecuting an accomplice, Jos6 Acama by 
name. Let your plan be adopted. We are satisfied with it, and believe great good 
can be done to the remnants of these Mission Indians. There should by all means be 
a resident agent to carry out;the scheme, with large power to manage refractory 

u a / m * # # # 

cases. * 

I sincerely hope that Congress and the Department will act promptly. 

Truly yours, 

A. B. HOTCHKISS. 

C. A. Wetmore, Esq. 




16 


San Diego, Cal., October 23, 1874. 

Dear Sir : Having listened to your plan for the care and preservation of the inter¬ 
ests of the Mission Indians of California, and having seen a statement of the same 
published in the San Diego Daily Union, we most heartily and cheerfully indorse the 
same. 


Very respectfully, yours, 


Chas. A. Wetmore, Esq. 


A. B. HOTCHKISS, 
District Attorney, San Diego County. 
THOMAS H. BUSH, 
County Judge , San Diego County. 

JAMES McCOY, 

State Senator , San Diego County. 
A. S. GRANT, 

County Clerk, San Diego County. 
N. IIUNSAKER, 

Sheriff, San Diego County. 
MARK P. SHAFFER, 

City and County Assessor , San Diego County. 
J. H. JAMISON, * 

Superintendent Public Schools, San Diego County. 

ANDREW CASSIDAY, 
Supei'visor San Diego County. 


The following letter is from the State assemblyman from San Diego 
County, now appointed collector of the port of San Diego: 


San Diego, Cal., Octobei • 25,1874. 

Sir : After hearing you explain quite fully the plan and suggestions which you 
propose to report to the Government in regard to the Mission Indians of Southern 
California, I have to say that I heartily approve the same, and, so far as I can learn, 
they are approved by every person in the county who is at all conversant with the 
subject. I particularly commend your idea of invit ing the aid of the Catholic Church, 
for the reason that these Indians are Catholics, and have faith in the Catholic Church ; 
but they have no faith in the Government of the United States, and have abundant 
reason for want of faith in the latter. It matters not how admirable the plan may be, 
or how well calculated to do justice to both white and Indians, it will fail to a great 
extent unless the Indians can be persuaded that the Government will deal fairly and 
honestly by them, and secure to them rights permanently. However any one of us 
may be prejudiced against the Catholic Church or its religious teachings, ail must con¬ 
fess that it has attained a degree of success in handling and governing Indians that 
has not been approached by our Government yet. 

I sincerely hope that your report will be adopted by the Government as a basis for 
its action in the matter, and that action had speedily, thus avoiding the serious trouble 
that threatens this country. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. W. BOWERS. 

C. A. Wetmore, Esq. 


Texas and Pacific Railway Company, 

Attorney’s Office, San Diego, Cal., 

October 24, 1874. 

My Dear Sir : Permit me to say that I have read with great satisfaction your article 
in the San Diego Union in regard to the future management of the Mission Indians 
of this county. If you can carry your ideas into practice, I verily believe that you 
will solve the much-vexed question, “What shall we do with the Indians?” 

I sincerely hope that the Interior Department will take hold of your plan in earnest, 
and in good time adopt your views. 

I am, very truly, yours, 

C. P. TAGGART, 

Member Republican State Central Committee , - -an Diego County, California. 

Mr. Charles A. Wetmore, 

Commissioner to Mission Indians, $c., San Diego 


17 


*s of the Republican County Central Committee, 

San Diego, Cal., October 23, 1874. 

Dear Sir: We he. tily indorse your views with regard to the treatment of the In¬ 
dians of this county, tJ nd hope you will be able to carry out your ideas, believing that 
it will not only be to the advantage of the Indians, but also of the white settlers. 
Respectfully, yours, 

GEORGE STONE, 

Chairman. 

D. C. REED, 

Secretary Republican County Central Committee. 

Mr. C. A. Wetmore, 

Special United States Indian Commissioner. 

United States Land-Office, 

Los Angeles, Cal., November 9, 1874. 

Dear Sir: I hove carefully considered your views in regard to a plan for providing 
homes, and otherwise providing for and defining the rights of the Mission Indians of 
Southern California, and heartily indorse the same as the most feasible plan yet sug- ' 
gested, to my knowledge, by which the Government may discharge obligations to these 
poor creatures, without incurring the extraordinary expense which would be required 
to gratify the rapacity of the ordinary agency. The economy of your plan will cer¬ 
tainly commend itself to the favorable consideration of the Government. 

It is apparent that you are familiar with the character and wants of these people, 
and that you have thoroughly studied the subject. The quantity of land which, in 
your opinion, should be allotted to them as sufficient for all their requirements, coin¬ 
cides with the views I expressed on that subject in a communication to the honorable 
Commissioner of the General Land-Office, bearing date April 20, 1874. 1 

Very truly, yours, 

ALFRED JAMES, 

Register United States Land-Office. 

C. A. Weteore, Esq., 

United States Special Commissioner for the Mission Indians. 

Ex Governor John G. Downey, under date of October 10, 1874, writer 
a personal letter from Los Angeles, in which he says: 

I am glad you have been appointed commissioner to these poor, unfortunate, deserv¬ 
ing, and neglected Indians. * * * The Government has stood by and sanctioned 

the robbing of the Mission Lands that were iutended by the Spanish and Mexican gov¬ 
ernments for neophytes. They have lavished millions on less-deserving human beings 
than these docile creatures. Now, in the name of humanity, urge something in their 
behalf. 

Having thus reviewed the whole subject, within the range of ray mis¬ 
sion, I hope that my labors will result in something practical; that the 
necessary orders may be issued to carry into effect the surveys required; 
and that Congress will be asked to pass laws authorizing the proposed 
pre-emption of small tracts actually occupied by Indians, by trustee in 
their behalf, to authorize such trustee to act as above recommended, 
and to appropriate sufficient funds to purchase lauds for those that are 
homeless, and that such other action may be taken as may appear neces¬ 
sary to aid and regulate the now wretched remnants of a once wealthy 
and prosperous mission. 

Your obedient servant, 

CHAS. A. WETMORE, 

Special Commissioner to the Mission Indians 

of Southern California. 

Hon. E. P. Smith, 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs , 

Interior Department , Washington , D. C. 


2 W 


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